Miami is at the top of a recent list from three academic researchers ranking the largest premiums and annual rent increases nationally, as rent spikes intensify across the Sun Belt and West amid record supply and demand imbalances.

Ken Johnson, Ph.D., of Florida Atlantic University, Shelton Weeks, Ph.D., of Florida Gulf Coast University, and Bennie Waller, Ph.D., of The University of Alabama, use leasing data from Zillow's Observed Rental Index to determine existing rents and statistically model historical trends from 2014. The Waller, Weeks and Johnson Rental Index covers the entire rental stock of homes and apartments.

The trio found that renters in Miami are paying 21.98 percent above the long-term rental trend and 21.92 percent more than they did a year ago. Cape Coral/Fort Myers, another hot Florida market, came in at #2.